Misogyny part of AFL, laments Peter Gordon

The new president of the Western Bulldogs AFL club, Peter Gordon, says there is less tolerance of misogyny than there used to be.
Photo: Jesse Marlow

by
Jason Murphy

Misogyny has long been a part of both AFL and broader society, says former Slater & Gordon partner
Peter Gordon
, who took over as president of the Western Bulldogs AFL club this week. He thinks the blokey attitude of his old law firm might have prepared his former colleague Prime Minister
Julia Gillard
for Parliament.

“Misogyny has always been with us and I think there is less tolerance of it than there used to be," Mr Gordon said, adding he was glad gender equality was being discussed.

Mr Gordon was a partner at Slater & Gordon when Ms Gillard was a young industrial lawyer in the 1990s. It was during this time that the now Prime Minister set up a union “slush fund" for her former partner Australian Workers Union official Bruce Wilson, which he used to embezzle hundreds of thousands of dollars. Ms Gillard has denied any wrongdoing.

Mr Gordon said the firm was not always a polite one to work in.

“I certainly think the partnership of Slater & Gordon was a tough environment. Expletives were not spared. It’s been described, not just by Julia, but by others as a blokey culture. I think in some ways it might have prepared her for the bearpit of federal politics."

However, he said he had not seen the Prime Minister’s much-discussed speech on misogyny.

“It would be nice to see the political discourse be a little bit more issue-driven and a little less personal on both sides," he said.

Mr Gordon sees a role for strong female leaders in the football club as well as on the national stage.

Related Quotes

Company Profile

“One of the reasons I’m thrilled to have Sue Alberti as my vice-president at the Bulldogs is I think she has been a real leader in standing up to sexism in the AFL context." Dr Alberti is a Melbourne businesswoman and philanthropist who was elected to the Bulldogs board in 2004.

Mr Gordon takes over as the Bulldogs fortunes ebb on and off the field. The club is in debt and it lost 17 of their 22 games in 2012.

“We have a history of coming back and we will come back, said Mr Gordon, who grew up in West Footscray and inherited the club his family supported.

Mr Gordon was president of what was the Footscray Bulldogs in the late 1990s. Then he fought for its survival, heading off an AFL plan for it to merge. The club has different problems now. It is millions of dollars in debt, but Mr Gordon said he was in a position to help once again.

“I am going to be making contributions to the club, and I am calling on all members to make contributions to the club," he said, but refused to name a figure.

“It’ll be a sum that’ll cause my wife to raise her eyebrows but it will also be something I am in a position to do."

The Bulldogs have about 30,000 members, less than half the number of the biggest teams. Mr Gordon appreciates that the team representing Melbourne’s west will be an underdog for some time.

“You could start with the smartest managers and administrators in the world and they wouldnt be able to turn us from one of the smallest to one of the largest franchises overnight or even over a 10-year period because changing allegiance to a football club is much more akin to changing nationality than it is to changing brands of soap powder."